


Lines in Your Skin

by OceannanotOceania



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Tattoo Artist!Scarlet, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-27 01:15:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5028034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceannanotOceania/pseuds/OceannanotOceania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sage wants to get a tattoo but only trusts Scarlet to do it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lines in Your Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Oh yeah, so this is based on a tweet someone had made about how they hoped that Sage had gotten his chest tattoo done by Scarlet, and I just couldn't help myself I had to write it so. I'm a bit out of practice with these two so hopefully nothing sounds too off! ^^;

“Are you sure you’re still okay with this?” Scarlet double-checks to make sure that the tattoo gun is plugged in, moving their foot until the pedal is a bit closer to them. Their glance flickers up to Sage, who’s sat in the most plush chair that could be found in their team’s dorm.

Sage’s eyes focus on the gun in Scarlet’s hands. “Y-Yeah, I’m good.”

“You know that getting a tattoo on your chest is going to hurt a lot more than one anywhere else?” Scarlet can’t help quirking an eyebrow.

“I know.” Sage replies, voice almost hesitant.

Scarlet slowly nods, placing the gun back down. “Okay.”

They get up, grabbing the paper that had the outline for the tattoo on it.

“Alright, I’m gonna put this down, tell me if you like the placement and size, alright?” Scarlet says. “I’m completely fine with making another outline.”

Sage nods. Scarlet peels the paper, walking over to Sage’s right side. Sage moves his right arm up so that it’s easier for Scarlet to lean forward. They spread out the paper, smoothing it out so the ink of the outline can be on Sage’s skin. Scarlet can’t help a chuckle when they see Sage flinch when Scarlet’s fingers brush Sage’s nipples. They take off the paper, stepping back slightly.

“Well?”

Sage sits up, glancing down at his chest. “It looks great.”

“The size is fine? You like the placement?”

“Yes, Scarlet, I love it.”

Scarlet bites their lip. “You’re fine with the designs around your nipples too?”

“Scarlet, it’s great, I love it all.” Sage says. “I can handle this, don’t worry.”

“I’m out of practice, Sage.” Scarlet says. “This might take me longer to do than a tattoo artist you’d find in an actual shop.”

“That’s fine.” Sage replies. “I trust you, Scarlet. That’s why I need you to do it.”  
Scarlet flashes a small smile. They let out a sigh, throwing the piece of wax paper into the trash.

“Alright.”

They go back over to their worktable- which, in reality, is simply the dining room table covered in a tarp-, an area covered with a number of ink bottles, extra needles, alcohol wipes, and a few other things needed to clean a tattoo. They place one of the black ink bottles closer to their gun, grabbing a small row of empty ink pots.

Scarlet looks back to Sage. “You only wanted black ink, right?”

Sage shrugs.”Whatever you think will look best.”

Scarlet rolls their eyes. “Just black then, I was always better with black ink anyways.”

“I don't find that surprising.” Sage says, chuckling.

Scarlet rolls their eyes, pouring out ink into the small pots. They stop when all of the pots are full, grabbing the gun and making a few last adjustments. They do a small step on the pedal, testing the gun one last time. Scarlet lets out a small breath when the gun works fine, dipping the needle of the gun in one of the ink pots. They go over to Sage, resting their right hand on Sage’s arm, pressing on the foot pedal before they place the needle to Sage’s skin.

It’s when Scarlet first places the needle down that they realize exactly how out of practice they are. It feels like they’re going to drop the gun, or that their hand will slip, drawing a line in Sage’s skin that shouldn’t be there. Scarlet pushes back the thought, instead focusing on controlling the gun in their left hand, and holding back the want to grab the gun with both hands.

Their eyes flicker up to Sage, and Scarlet can’t help biting their lip when they notice Sage’s eyes locked on them. They lift the needle off Sage’s skin, glancing down to see that the needle is out of ink. Scarlet turns away, moving to dip the needle in another ink pot.

“You know this is actually going to be boring to see, right?” Scarlet says, moving back to Sage. “It’ll only look more interesting when I’m filling stuff in.”

Sage shrugs. “I don’t know, watching you concentrating on anything is always a good sight for me.”

Scarlet’s eyes flicker away, and they lick at their lips. They quickly shake their head, moving forward to continue to outline the tattoo on Sage’s chest.

Despite the awkward start, Scarlet finds that it takes little time for them to get back into the rhythm of tattooing, feeling strangely calm as they alternate between drawing a new line and patting away the excess ink and blood.

Scarlet sits back, placing the gun on the arm of the chair, grip still light on it as they looked up to Sage.

“Alright, that’s just the outline, do you need a break or...?” Scarlet asks.

Sage shrugs. “Might as well keep going.”

Scarlet nods. “I’ll fill in the chest, then.”

They turn back to the table, switching out the needle. They quietly count the pots of ink left, nodding minutely when they see that they should still have enough. Scarlet dips the needle in one of the ink pots before turning back to Sage, pressing their foot lightly on the pedal before they start to fill in the outline.

Filling in the tattoo is much easier than the outline, something that they remember being the case even when they were more actively tattooing.

“So what made you do tattoos?” Sage asks.

“Hm?” Scarlet lifts the needle off of Sage’s chest, glancing up to the man.

“Was it a friend?” Sage asks.

Scarlet’s eyes flicker away. “Yes and no.”

“I’ve always been artsy, you know that.” Scarlet turns to dip the needle in another ink pot. “I’ve just always liked drawing designs, and honestly, looking back, a lot of them were good for tattoos.” They lick at their lips. “So, remember how me and Weiss used to be friends when I lived up in her neighborhood?”

Sage nods.

“Well, even though I didn’t see her quite as often, I knew Weiss’ sister Winter, too.” Scarlet glances away. “And I thought she was, quite honestly, really beautiful. It’s hard for me to even explain what I liked about her, I just, really liked her.”

“She’d watch after me and Weiss sometimes when a nanny wasn’t available, and I always loved being over on those days than even living back at my own place. So one time, when Winter had been watching over us, Weiss’ dad had just come back and was having a conversation with her about something, I’m not even sure what.” Scarlet says. “I think I was about to head back to my own house, but Winter pulled me aside for a bit, saying that she had something to show me. She told me that she really liked the drawings I made all the time, and asked how I felt about tattoos. I told her that I thought they all looked really cool, and she just sort of nodded her head. She kinda looked around the room before she just lifted up her skirt.”

“Honestly, I’d freaked out because I was really confused, but I didn’t want to show it so I just kinda stood there for a second, not really even registering that Winter was trying to ask me something. It sounded like she’d had to repeat her question a couple of times, and I just kinda shook my head before I looked down to her leg. And I remembering my mouth falling open or something because I saw this really beautiful design of a rose on her skin, and it was a white ink that was just lighter than her skin. She just kinda chuckled before asking me if I liked it, and of course I said yes, and I guess something about how I’d said it made her laugh.”

“And just, she hadn’t really said anything explicit, but something about that memory just kind of made me look more into doing tattoo work.” Scarlet says. “I’m not really certified in anything, I just had the means to get good quality equipment, and I just kind of started doing tattoos for people. I never charged or anything since I didn’t really need the money, and it always felt wrong for me to try and take money for something that I probably shouldn’t have been doing. I stopped a bit before I started training to be a Hunter though since that ended up completely taking over my life.” Scarlet nods. “And, yeah. That’s what got me into it.”

“Hm.”

“Not the engaging story you expected, huh?”

“No, no.” Sage replies. “I think any story from you is interesting, in all honesty.”

Scarlet’s hand almost slips. Their grip on the gun tightens, and they bite the inside of their lip.

“Oh.”

Sage chuckles. “Sorry, a bit too much probably.”

“Yeah.” Scarlet replies weakly.

A few minutes later, the tattoo is filled in completely. Scarlet wipes up the mix of ink and blood on Sage’s chest for a bit longer than is probably necessary, their eyes avoiding the last part of Sage’s tattoo outline.

“So, are you going to need a break at all?” Scarlet asks.

Sage shrugs. “We’re so close to done, might as well just go all the way.”

“O-Okay.”

“Do you need a break, Scarlet?”

“Hm? No, no, you’re right, we should just finish this up.”

Sage nods slowly. “Yeah.” He glances down to his chest, seeing the remaining part of the blue tattoo outline. Sage chuckles, looking up to Scarlet. “Have you never tattooed on nipples before, Scarlet?”

“No, I have.” Scarlet replies. “It’s just, there are two very different reactions I’ve had: intense screaming and cursing-

They quirk an eyebrow.  “Or horribly awkward moaning.”

Sage snorts. Scarlet rolls their eyes.

“I’m not lying, though.”

“I don’t think you are.” Sage says. “I just think it’s amusing.” He chuckles. “I’ll try not to be either one of those.”  
“I appreciate the thought.”

Sage’s face falls slightly before the man lies back. Scarlet bites their lip, turning away from Sage. They fill up a few pots with ink, switching out their needle for one used for outlining. They dip the needle in ink, turning back to Sage. Scarlet lets out a breath, lightly placing their right hand on the side of Sage’s chest before starting to outline.

From the start, Scarlet can notice how much more pain Sage is in. The man is clenching both fists, the flare of muscles and tendons obvious along his arms. Sage bites at his lip, showing off a flash of teeth, his nostrils flaring. Scarlet’s eyes focus on the task at hand, on trying to make their lines as even and consistent as possible.

Scarlet almost drops the tattoo gun when they hear the first moan. Scarlet’s used to hearing groans and moans- after all, people will make some _weird_ noises when they’re in pain- but this is much different than before. Maybe it’s just that Scarlet had never really heard Sage make any sort of noise like that- even when he’d been wounded during a fight, Sage seldom even cried- but the first time Sage had moaned, Scarlet couldn’t help feeling floored. Scarlet finishes the line they’d been drawing, stopping the gun before they look up to Sage.

“A-Are you okay?” Scarlet asks.

“Hm?” Sage says. “Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry, it felt kind of... funny.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that a lot.” Scarlet glances away.

“Scarlet?”

They look back up to Sage, noticing the expression on the man’s face. “Are you still fine with doing this?”

Scarlet bites their lip. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

Sage nods slowly. “I’ll try to keep the noise down for you, yeah?”

Scarlet nods. “Yes, thank you.”

Sage flashes a small smile before he sits back.

Scarlet lets out a breath, double checking their equipment before they get back to the tattoo.

Oddly enough, the rest of the time spent on Sage’s tattoo passes in some kind of whir. Scarlet knows that Sage still had some sort of reaction to what they’d been doing, but they couldn’t even remember what Sage had been like the rest of the time, instead finding themself more focused on the action of tattooing.

Scarlet mops up Sage’s chest for the last time, clearing away the dark mess of liquid. They grab a container of salve, rubbing some along all of Sage’s chest.

“Do you want to look at it before I cover it up?” Scarlet asks.

Sage nods. Scarlet nods in response, placing the salve back on the table and grabbing a mirror from the opposite end of their workplace. They face the mirror towards Sage, tilting their head as they adjust the mirror to show Sage’s chest. Their eyes flicker up to Sage.

“So?” Scarlet asks.

Sage grins. “It’s amazing.”

Scarlet bites at their lip. “Really?”

“Yes, it’s wonderful, really.”

“Good.” They nod their head. “And the design’s fine, right? I guess it’s too late to ask, but-”

Sage chuckles. “Yes, of course it’s fine, you were the one who designed it.”

Scarlet bites their lip again, feeling a flush on their face. “That doesn’t mean much.”

“Of course it means something, it’s _you_ we’re talking about.”

Sage moves forward then, lightly grabbing Scarlet’s chin. Scarlet’s eyes close almost instinctually, a second passing before they feel warm, comforting lips against their own. Scarlet leans into the kiss, feeling it end just as quickly as it began. Their eyes flutter open when they feel Sage pull away, the man resting his forehead against theirs.

He smiles. “Thank you Scarlet. Really.”

Scarlet lets out a small chuckle, licking at their lips.

“Y-Yeah, of course. Let’s get your tattoo wrapped up.”

Sage smiles, letting out another chuckle.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not quite as active recently, but if you'd like a look at some of my writing check out my [Tumblr](http://oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com/writing-masterpost).


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